Adelphia Cable

Adelphia Cable Powerlink customer's complaint on broadband Internet service.

True Story About Adelphia Cable

A broadband abuse team shouldn't be abusing customers.

Many times consumers complain about service from cable companies.
Mostly it falls on deaf ears. It shouldn't.
Bad communications with customers is worse than bad service,
and a combination of the two can't be survived.
Here is an account of my experience dealing with Adelphia Cable's
broadband service department. The entire episode - 7 hours on
telephone hold, and an addional 36 minutes spent talking with
customer service reps who "can't do anything" - leaves me angry
enough to abandon high-speed internet access.
This true story starts with my calling Adelphia
to ask about their e-mail restrictions. (I was
thinking about sending out an opt-in newsletter
through my own mail server.) News on Radio and the Internet
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12:30pm,
Jan. 23, '02
I called the Adelphia office to ask about the e-mail limitation placed on their
broadband internet subscribers... waited approx 35 minutes on hold before
I was able to talk with someone.
The service rep who answered said they'd have to pass me up to the next level
of technician and gave me a reference # 2136367.
I waited another 25 minutes to speak with this fellow who gave me the lowdown.
Said it didn't look like I'd be able to use the Adelphia service for sending
out my newsletter, but he suggested I send a copy of the newsletter to him
and to the Adelphia.net e-mail abuse team. "At least let them see it, maybe
they'll make an exception."
Nice fellow... in six minutes of conversation I learned something,
and decided not to pursue sending out the newsletter via Adelphia.

2:23pm,
Jan. 23, '02
I sent copies of newsletter to him, and them, as requested...
I felt everything was handled. But my problems have just begun.

2:35pm,
Jan. 23, '02
my service is disconnected...

Thinking this was just a temporary outage - as is normal with Adelphia - I went on
to other things, until 3:45 or so. Then I started thinking about something the first
"upper-level" tech said, if I went ahead and sent out a newsletter...
if you get so much as one complaint, they will cut you off for thirty days."
Could forwarding my newsletter to abuse@adelphia.net be mistaken as a complaint?
This isn't good.
Placed another call to Adelphia.
I was about to learn the meaning of being "on-hold".

3:45pm,
Jan. 23
50 minutes later a human voice comes on the phone... it says that
"the abuse team has taken control" of my account. He knows this
by the CIR#02138683 I've been assigned.
He doesn't know why I've been disconnected, nor is there anything
he can do.
I convince him to try because this is all the action of an overzealous
abuse team, and all I originally did was ask a question about e-mail.
I'm in conversation with this person for 10 minutes, sitting on hold
for six of them as he checks with his supervisor. Each time the
fellow comes back with a little more zest for helping me - repeatedly
admitting I've been screwed over.
At the end though there's nothing he can do but to leave word with
the "abuse team", and then try to transfer me over to them.
He does both, and I get a recording telling me the "...wait time
is 35 minutes to talk with a technician." I hang up

6pm
I called again.... waited for 40 minutes on hold before speaking
with a person. They reaffirm that I must speak with someone in
abuse, and that they will transfer me. I get a recording asking
that I leave my name and number. I do then hang up. At 7pm I get
edgy and call Adelphia back, hoping to get someone who can help...
So far in my two previous phone calls about this I've spent 2 hours
and 36 minutes on hold while actively speaking with various
"service rep" for a total of only 6 minutes....
But my foray into on-hold hell was only beginning.

7:55pm,
I finally get a tech person who sounds truly interested in my problem,
reaffirming he doesn't understand why I was removed...
but he also says he can't do anything for me. I push him to talk with
his supervisor. He gets the supervisor. Same words are exchanged,
they can't do anything either.

Can't anyone help a customer here?
I give Adelphia over $600 a year. For this?

I start requesting the customer reps' names, because now it looks like I'm going to have more trouble
solving this than ever imagined. But nobody will give me their full name... they all go by a single name:
John, Joe, Mike, Curtis... "Sorry, company policy" they say.
Is this where Madonna started?
"It's in the hands of the abuse office... they control your account now There's nothing we can do."
(All I originally did was to call and ask a question, what went wrong? - Nobody can tell me.)
This is "service"?
I plead with him, knowing I've just spent my day with a phone in my ear... Ultimately, all he can do
is transfer me to where I can leave my name on a recording so the Abuse Team can call me back...
and also it's best if I "follow that up with a phone call back to them in the morning" he suggests.
"It's my experience that if you call right at 8:30, you'll only have to wait on hold for about ten minutes
before talking with a rep... they open their office every morning at 8:30am." That's what this person
was telling me.

8:30am,
Jan. 24, '02
the recorded voice says wait time is 25 minutes... after 35 I get a human.
He's not from the abuse department though.
Friendly person, understands my plight... and agrees there's no reason
he can see why I've been pulled. No he can't do anything for me...
but if I call Abuse and leave a number they will call back, things
should get straight. He'll even transfer me now.
He transfers me, and I get a recording...
After a 90 second message which has nothing to do with what I'm calling
about, it tells me to leave me number and they'll get back. I leave my
number, again... then hang up. Then get nervous about them getting back
to me when they want to (possibly next Monday?) So I call Adelphia back.

9:35am,
Jan. 24
This time it's a 40 minute wait on hold.
By now I have heard every one of Adelphia's telephone on-hold ad
messages. Memorized them.
You'd think it should be a crime to subject a customer, placed on hold
for half-hours at a time, to listen to commercials telling them how
Adelphia was striving to improve customer service.

I tell this next service rep "we are joined at the hip." Now that I have real person, I'm not about to let go of him until this is resolved. He insists there's nothing more to do... I insist he get his supervisor. This is a time to speak to someone in authority. Five minutes later the supervisor says talk to the abuse team... she has no authority. I think I've already been abused enough, and force her to try phoning the abuse office to act as the middleman, er' woman. She comes back in three minutes - success.. She's talked with "Mike" Senior Investigator in the Abuse Department". (The title gives me hives.) I'm thinking - "explain it to him, and I'm on my way. Piece of cake." So far I've spent 5.1 hours on hold, waiting to talk with someone at Adelphia, and an additional 28 minutes actively talking with people about my problem ...but now that I get to talk with Mike, the horror is about to begin. My first thought upon hearing Mike's voice was "here's someone who thinks he's imposing. This is a guy who gets goose bumps watching reruns of Dragnet." He's got all the rules on his side, even when he's wrong. Mike is on a power trip.

Turns out that, when the very first guy I spoke with asked Mike about my question, Mike pinged my computer and saw that I had a mail serving program loaded (Yes it was on my computer, I was looking at it. Fact is I just loaded it that morning.) ... anyway, Mike decided that made me a spammer so he canceled my subscription - or more politely, "...put your account on hold."

Geeezzz... I've never even used Adelphia's e-mail. Not once.

No problem he said "...in an hour or two" he'd have me back online now that
he understands I never sent an e-mail out over Adelphia, don't have any
attentions to send e-mail out over Adelphia, and am so angry I would only
use Adelphia if it was the only high-speed connection available.
Which it is.
So I do.

2:34pm,
Jan. 24
I am sitting on hold now, waiting to talk with Mike at the abuse team.
He promised, at 10:30 this morning, to have me back online in a couple
of hours. This story is being drawn out... I'm getting tired of dealing
with it. This time, I'm on hold until 3:23pm....

3:33pm,

Ten minutes ago a tech rep answer... took my story and called Mike
in abuse... Four minutes later, he comes back and tells me Mike says
it would be twenty-four hours before I'm back up and running....
I demanded to speak to a supervisor. Mike said "two hours" earlier.

3:40pm,
Jan. 24, 02
Joe is the supervisor... he calls Mike... I've been waiting five minutes now
for him to return with Mike on the line. Instead Joe says there is nothing
he can do, but he does offer to give me mike's phone number - something
I haven't been able to get from anyone else. 888-551-5464.
I hang up to call Mike direct. But... it turns out to be the phone number
is for King Wire Inc.
The supervisor gave me a bogus number to get me off the phone.
Adelphia has scammed me again!
I'm now going on 48 hours without the high speed Internet connection.
That's pretty inconvenient considering this is a utility in our home,
as essential as the telephone, electric, and gas.

I've spent a total of 7.2 hours on hold, and held conversations with
Adelphia employees for an additional 34 minutes - all between
noon on Wednesday, January 23 and 4pm on January 25.
...and all because I called them to ask a question about e-mail.
(Ironically, I've never used Adelphia's e-mail system.)
The last word I have is that it will be "tomorrow before we have you back
online. They're doing some upgrading." Of course, this is coming from Dawn
(a guy), the same one who just gave me an e-mail address when I told him
I wanted somewhere to write to complain about being offline.
I'm "OFFLINE" for Christ's sake... how am I suppose to send e-mail?
It just doesn't seem worth the effort anymore.
Where's my phone. It's time to call the lawyer...
Oh yea, and where's that AOL disc for the dial up modem?

Home

	12:30pm, Jan. 23, '02	I called the Adelphia office to ask about the e-mail limitation placed on their broadband internet subscribers... waited approx 35 minutes on hold before I was able to talk with someone. The service rep who answered said they'd have to pass me up to the next level of technician and gave me a reference # 2136367. I waited another 25 minutes to speak with this fellow who gave me the lowdown. Said it didn't look like I'd be able to use the Adelphia service for sending out my newsletter, but he suggested I send a copy of the newsletter to him and to the Adelphia.net e-mail abuse team. "At least let them see it, maybe they'll make an exception." Nice fellow... in six minutes of conversation I learned something, and decided not to pursue sending out the newsletter via Adelphia.
	2:23pm, Jan. 23, '02	I sent copies of newsletter to him, and them, as requested... I felt everything was handled. But my problems have just begun.
	2:35pm, Jan. 23, '02	my service is disconnected...

	3:45pm, Jan. 23	50 minutes later a human voice comes on the phone... it says that "the abuse team has taken control" of my account. He knows this by the CIR#02138683 I've been assigned. He doesn't know why I've been disconnected, nor is there anything he can do. I convince him to try because this is all the action of an overzealous abuse team, and all I originally did was ask a question about e-mail. I'm in conversation with this person for 10 minutes, sitting on hold for six of them as he checks with his supervisor. Each time the fellow comes back with a little more zest for helping me - repeatedly admitting I've been screwed over. At the end though there's nothing he can do but to leave word with the "abuse team", and then try to transfer me over to them. He does both, and I get a recording telling me the "...wait time is 35 minutes to talk with a technician." I hang up
	6pm	I called again.... waited for 40 minutes on hold before speaking with a person. They reaffirm that I must speak with someone in abuse, and that they will transfer me. I get a recording asking that I leave my name and number. I do then hang up. At 7pm I get edgy and call Adelphia back, hoping to get someone who can help... So far in my two previous phone calls about this I've spent 2 hours and 36 minutes on hold while actively speaking with various "service rep" for a total of only 6 minutes.... But my foray into on-hold hell was only beginning.
	7:55pm,	I finally get a tech person who sounds truly interested in my problem, reaffirming he doesn't understand why I was removed... but he also says he can't do anything for me. I push him to talk with his supervisor. He gets the supervisor. Same words are exchanged, they can't do anything either.

	8:30am, Jan. 24, '02	the recorded voice says wait time is 25 minutes... after 35 I get a human. He's not from the abuse department though. Friendly person, understands my plight... and agrees there's no reason he can see why I've been pulled. No he can't do anything for me... but if I call Abuse and leave a number they will call back, things should get straight. He'll even transfer me now. He transfers me, and I get a recording... After a 90 second message which has nothing to do with what I'm calling about, it tells me to leave me number and they'll get back. I leave my number, again... then hang up. Then get nervous about them getting back to me when they want to (possibly next Monday?) So I call Adelphia back.
	9:35am, Jan. 24	This time it's a 40 minute wait on hold. By now I have heard every one of Adelphia's telephone on-hold ad messages. Memorized them. You'd think it should be a crime to subject a customer, placed on hold for half-hours at a time, to listen to commercials telling them how Adelphia was striving to improve customer service.

	2:34pm, Jan. 24	I am sitting on hold now, waiting to talk with Mike at the abuse team. He promised, at 10:30 this morning, to have me back online in a couple of hours. This story is being drawn out... I'm getting tired of dealing with it. This time, I'm on hold until 3:23pm....
	3:33pm,	Ten minutes ago a tech rep answer... took my story and called Mike in abuse... Four minutes later, he comes back and tells me Mike says it would be twenty-four hours before I'm back up and running.... I demanded to speak to a supervisor. Mike said "two hours" earlier.
	3:40pm, Jan. 24, 02	Joe is the supervisor... he calls Mike... I've been waiting five minutes now for him to return with Mike on the line. Instead Joe says there is nothing he can do, but he does offer to give me mike's phone number - something I haven't been able to get from anyone else. 888-551-5464. I hang up to call Mike direct. But... it turns out to be the phone number is for King Wire Inc. The supervisor gave me a bogus number to get me off the phone. Adelphia has scammed me again! I'm now going on 48 hours without the high speed Internet connection. That's pretty inconvenient considering this is a utility in our home, as essential as the telephone, electric, and gas.